Alarming

Finished off Danny Baker's second volume, "Going Off Alarming" today, and another enjoyable read it was too.

In one of the chapters towards the end, he talked about his friendship with Paul Gascoigne, and inevitably shared some comical stories of some of the high jinks they'd got up to back in the nineties. But, it was the last couple of paragraphs in the chapter that particularly struck me:

"More than anything in the world, I would wish Paul to get well and realise, once and for all, how widely loved, respected and important he is. Though these books may include many notable people who have punctuated our pop culture over the last forty years, nobody comes close to making the impression on me that Paul Gascoigne did.

I have never met anyone like him and certainly never expect to do so again."

Beautifully put.

(After all, as anyone who knew me back in 1990 will no doubt remember, it was Paul Gascoigne who reminded us that "There will always be an England".)

Donald

For anyone who is missing the Animation Academy, I thought that the video below was fun, albeit a bit challenging!

Looking through old posts, here are a couple of previous efforts of ours, one of Tigger and one of Winnie (I'm sure we've drawn Donald before - albeit an easier, straight on version, but I don't seem to have taken pictures of our masterpieces).

I look forward to seeing your Donald drawings ...

RSJ

Been for dinner to a restaurant in London called RSJ. Apparently, yes, it was named after a piece of steel.

Food and service decidedly average but company much better.

90:12

We have a new curate at church, and it was his first service with us today. He spoke to us about the parable of the talents (Matthew 25:14-30) and he was excellent at doing so. I'd heard it many times before, but I'm not sure that I'd really listened. He did a good job of asking us questions (and thankfully not expecting answers there and then) about which of the servants we might be - am I using my talents and thereby letting them multiplying, or am I hiding them away like the servant who buried the coins in a hole in the ground? If so, why - is it about being afraid (of what)?

Good questions to ponder!

As our curate pointed out, the parable doesn't end on the happiest of notes, with the third servant being thrown out into the darkness, and so he redirected us to today's psalm, which is no.90, and in particular verse 12:

Teach us how short our life is,
so that we may become wise.

By the way, the words above are from the Good News edition. The Favourite Psalms book that Mum has lent me includes Psalm 90, and it uses the New International Edition words, which are:

Teach us to number our days aright,
that we may gain a heart of wisdom.

... And Party

We have tickets.

And if you can't get the cryptic clue, you'll have to wait until next June to see what for!

The Soldier

If I should die, think only this of me:
That there's some corner of a foreign field
That is forever England. There shall be
In that rich earth a richer dust concealed;
A dust whom England bore, shaped, made aware,
Gave, once, her flowers to love, her ways to roam,
A body of England's, breathing English air,
Washed by the rivers, blest by the suns of home.

And think, this heart, all evil shed away,
A pulse in the eternal mind, no less
Gives somewhere back the thoughts by England given;
Her sights and sounds; dreams happy as her day;
And laughter, learnt of friends; and gentleness,
In hearts at peace, under an English heaven.

Rupert Brooke
(1887 - 1915)

Pictures

By way of catching up with a few things, some pictures from so far this month, working backwards through the photo stream.

Firstly, here are the new bay trees (thanks very much Mum), now planted up in new pots, and in pride of place by the front door.


Also as part of this weekend's gardening, we've put a couple of bamboos by the side fence on the drive - part of the screening project. We have a third pot, but not a third bamboo yet!


And here is the shed itself (photobombed by the dog), looking pretty cool in the afternoon sun. Been discussing plans with the gardener today for getting several tonnes of gravel delivered so we can start sorting out paths (and then next stop raised beds).


For Bec's benefit, here is a picture of the lodge!


Plants that were by the front door, now relegated to the back to make way for the new bay trees.


The new Christmas ad for John Lewis hit the TV screens on Friday night, and on Saturday morning, our very own Monty and Mabel arrived!


The animals having a 'love in' on the sofa.


And finally, all the way back to last weekend, birthday dinner.